Austine Eguavoen says a lot of work still needs to be done on the Super Eagles attack ahead of the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon which will commence in two days time.
The Eagles beat Cameroon club Coton Sport 2-0 in a practice game in Garoua on Friday.
Goals from skipper Ahmed Musa and Samuel Chukwueze, earned the Eagles a comfortable win.
But interim coach Eguavoen stated that the coaching crew still need to work on the attacking third of the team.
“In front of goal we are too few and that’s what we have to work on,” he said on NFF TV after the game.
“Crosses were coming, ball possession is good, playing to the side which is our strength is very good but arriving in the box with fewer players is not so good and that is what we are going to work on in the next few days.”
However, he praised the players for their overall performance.
“We played two sets of teams, first half 11 players and in the second half another 11 players just to see how they can fare and cope with the weather condition. We struggled a little bit with the weather but in terms of ball possession and movement I think we were very impressed. Winning this game is a very good thing for us.”
The Eagles starting 11 for the practice game had the likes of Maduka Okoye, William Troost-Ekong, Wilfred Ndidi, Joe Aribo, Chidera Ejuke, Kelechi Iheanacho, Ahmed Musa and Taiwo Awoniyi.
And speaking on how the starting 11 fared against Coton Sport, the 2006 AFCON bronze medal winning coach said:”They did very well, it’s a little difficult to compare both teams and we missed a couple of chances and we scored only one goal. Second group came on missed a couple of chances also and scored only one goal. So the result is Nigeria two Coton Sport zero.
“Like we know it’s a practice match nobody wants to go full force because we have to try and play safe a little bit but however we are impressed by everyone that came in.”
And on whether the tactics during training were well executed by the players in the course of the practice game, Eguavoen added:”Yes we did but at some point we didn’t just because of fatigue. The ball movement was a bit faster which we required and as for the players they were doing that. But as the game progressed fatigue started setting in so the ball movement became a bit slower. But whenever they recuperate they will always go out there and do exactly what we want them to do.”
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